The Courier: When the Cold War Was Hot

 

 THE COURIER (2020) 

Directed by Dominic Cooke

Lionsgate, 111 minutes, PG13 (language, partial nudity) 

★★★★

 

 

Unless you were there, it's hard to imagine just how close the West came to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. That wasn't just heated US politics; it was also the view of Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Penkovsky, the GRU officer in charge of Soviet military defense. The folly of this situation led him to do the unthinkable: commit treason. The Courier is based on Penkovsky's contacts with British courier Greenville Wynne.

 

Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) was a nebbish electrical engineer and businessman content to be a classic post World War II suburban guy. He did his job, returned home each night to his homemaker wife Sheila (Jesse Buckley) and son Andrew, put his feet up, and relaxed. He was about as far from any sort of intelligence officer as could be imagined, which is exactly why British MI6 recruited him and the CIA approved. All they had to do was convince the recalcitrant Wynne to do the job.

 

For all his bluster that the Soviet economy was superior to that of the West, Nikita Khrushchev (Vladimir Chuprikov) knew better. The allure of forging a trade with the British electrical firm outweighed rhetorical positions and Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) was allowed to pursue a potential deal. Soon, Wynne was making trips to Moscow to booze and schmooze with Penkovsky. Those trips ended with a furtive passing of documents to Wynne. That information was probably the first inkling that the Soviets intended to place nuclear weapons in Cuba.

 

Wynne had little desire to play spy. He was assured by MI6 contact Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) and CIA officer Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) that all precautions would be taken and that both he and Penkovsky would be evacuated at the first signs of trouble. Another thing you wouldn't know if you've not studied the Cold War era is that such assurances were as hollow as a chocolate Easter Bunny. MI6, the CIA, the GGU, and the KGB only wanted information and didn't care much who they used to get it. The West relied on the patriotism and sense of duty of its contacts; the Russians resorted to fear, gulags, and extensive use of capital punishment.

 

A funny thing happened as Wynne and Penkovsky pursued their dangerous London-Moscow/Moscow-London business “negotiations; the two men became friends. After Sheila overcame her belief that Grenville had a Russian mistress, there was even personal contact between the respective families.

 

Given that all of this is historical, I give away nothing by saying that both men were used by their respective governments. How often can a Brit attend Russian ballets and late-night walks with a GRU officer before chumminess arouses suspicion? Wynne returned to Moscow one time more to arrange the Penkovsky family's defection to the West, but Big Brother was listening. As we've learned in the Brittney Griner case, a Russian prison is not a place you want to be.

 

It should be said as spy films go, The Courier is no Bridge of Spies (2015). Its strength lies in showing how an ordinary guy can get sucked into something way bigger than he can control. If you've seen Cumberbatch's stage performance in Frankenstein and witnessed his transformation into the monster with minimal makeup but maximum whole-body effort, you know his frame is a supple instrument. He is fully convincing in showing the physical and emotional toll spying took on Grenville Wynne. By the time he returned to Britain after a prisoner exchange, Cumberbatch/Wynne looks cadaverous. Ninidze was also superb as in the role of the more polished/more cautious Penkovsky. He was so good that he garnered several award nominations. On the minus side, Brosnahan never made me believe she was a CIA agent. She's too modern in style and demeanor, a problem compounded by a flat performance. I also wish Buckley had a bigger role, as she's a very good actress. 

 

The Courier is certainly worth watching, though. We might know how things went down, but seeing it happen underscores the paranoiac tenor of the times and the reckless brinkmanship that nearly precipitated nuclear folly. Sean Bobbitt's moody cinematography greatly enhances the film. Bobbitt painted with dark tones that made it a tossup which was bleaker, London or Moscow in the years 1961-63.  Director Dominic Cooke left himself open to charges of fostering distrust of one's government. Perhaps, but was he wrong? 

 

Rob Weir